a near defacement :: tunnel four . day three

[pogue]

Axyl knows how they ended up in the mines, much to his dismay.

And he's paying the price for it, frostbite nipping at his fingertips even as the darkness swallows them whole. The plan had been to make their way towards the fold from the ice sheet, canteens full and stomachs empty, prides wounded and ego dissolving. But there's a penance for their planning, the arena laughing in mockery and kicking up something fierce in its wake.

It starts out slow, at first, flurries carving a path through the air and dissolving on his skin before it turns into something angrier, something more. In the span of a heartbeat and a half his vision is coated in white, hailstorm and menacing winds pounding against his uniform. "Agh, fuck!" He shouts over to Hugo, little more than a blurred shape, so close yet so far away from him.

Bennie groans in dismay at the sudden revelation of movement, and Jett follows up with a much weaker and smaller cry at the disturbance of beauty sleep in the making. "Yeah, yeah-" Axyl starts, something sinister latched onto the end of his tongue that he has to bite back. The taste is bitter, cold and everything in between as they move, the view of a false ocean slipping into white with every step forwards.

The arena is calling to them, begging and demanding for something red to coat the blanket of snow that stretches across the arena. Axyl knows it as soon as they arrive at the mines, stomach sinking into itself and acid pulling up from the source. He gulps, swallows down the dust that's accumulated between the nerves and looks to Hugo. "This is gonna be bad, man."

Anddddddd bad it is!

The walls shake first, then the floors and his own fists, curled up into themselves as the entire world falls to pieces in seconds. He collapses to the dust and the dirt, smacks his head against something blunt and loses more brain cells than he can afford in a place like this, for a boy like him.

"Fuck, Hugo!"

He clamors in the sudden darkness, grabbing his allies hand and squeezing it tight for both assurance and comfort, something more and something less as he surveys the shadows they drown in. We gotta keep moving," He starts, not giving him time to respond before he dashes forward into the darkness.

[Damage]

CNJkT3Lpmh4-9

4-9

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a r g u e r i t e

Something's got a hold of me lately
No, I don't know myself anymore
Feels like the walls are all closin' in
And the devil's knockin' at my door, whoa

Their plan had been sound – find a source of water and set up camp. All of it would’ve gone according to plan had the winds not started picking up early in the morning.

At first, Marguerite had wanted them to tough it out. “It’ll finish soon. They’re probably trying to force people together somewhere.” Her voice barely cut through the howl of the wind. Flurries nipped across her ski mask and she hunkered down close to the ground. They both had covered in a second skin of thermals and coats, enough to keep out the frostbite for a while.

Except the wind remained unrelenting, and as headstrong as Maggie might’ve been, she could not will the storm into submission. Her plans once again dashed, she conceded just as her fingers started to numb that they needed to head back toward the mines.

“We’ll have to hole up in there until it passes,” She chewed her words and spat them out. Ines had to know as well as she did that if they were forced back into the mines, others would be, too. Which meant that with a faceless sky, the gamemakers were growing impatient with the lack of blood.

She fitted a coil of twine across her wrist and offered it to Ines when they’d gotten to the same exit to the mines they’d come out of yesterday afternoon (Maggie had searched for the green marking she’d made with the spray paint, though her eyes could’ve been playing tricks on her). They had to stick together, and they had to be braver than yesterday.

“Keep your head about you,” Maggie offered when the wind had hushed to a whistle. “I don’t think we’ll wind up with the same friendly reception as yesterday.”

Patience had to wearing thin on each of the other tributes, too. Every day that passed in this hellscape without another death made the little things that much harder. Maggie imagined blackened fingers and toes from those who didn’t get mittens or thermals. Those who’d failed to be sponsored water or start a fire to melt and clean the ice. Still others who had to be growing tired from exposure alone.

She padded into the entrance slowly. It’s not so much she wanted to shield Ines from whatever danger lurked in front of them, but rather, she trusted herself far more to remove whatever threat presented itself.

With every step she paused to listen. A drip of water. A clatter of rocks. And then – a voice, calling out.

… Hugo!

Her eyes widened. Her district partner. The one that had taken a shot at her in the bloodbath. Axyl must’ve been nearby.

She moved to reach for her glaive, and heard the echoing rumbles grow louder. The earth beneath feet began to shift and Maggie moved to cut the twine on her wrist.

“Save yourself!” She offered before the black swallowed her down. She pulled her limbs into herself and braced for the inevitable fall.

When she staggered to her feet, she threw herself back against the wall. She didn’t see Ines yet, but could hear more echoes, and her eyes flitted to movement in the distance.

Was that blood on the ground?

Mercy couldn’t survive in a place like this. Maggie would only move to strangle it when the timing was right. She was smart enough to know that now wasn’t the time to raise her glaive.

ELEGANT

Damage
gFok8QrmjM4-94-9

[k!ah]

Not charming- endearing.

Yeah, I could see it. She was endearing as all hell when she had laughed in my face so hard that she had to stifle it with a burp. All at my expense... and yet... Yeah. Endearing was abetter word for her.

So maybe that was why when they settled in for the night in an alcove just outside the mines exit that Mouse allowed the white haired tribute to curl up close to his body, shelter her against the rising winds with his wing... and when I had approached to sit on the other side he had snapped his beak so close to my throat that he almost nipped it. I had glared at him and I could have sworn his dark eyes had danced with something like amusement as he glared back, personal space, remember?.

"Fucking useless, remember?"

Mouse growls.

I pout.

Mouse back downs first, curling his wing ever so slightly tighter around felicity and I know that despite him turning away first, he has won this battle. Sighing I slump down into the snow, my back pressed up against the ice cold wall of the alcove. Wren Jr. presses against my leg and for a moment I suck in his warmth, ready to tug the small creature closer but then it turns its pleading eyes the the pile of feathers a few paces away and scrambles into the mass of body heat.

"Traitor!" I hiss as I stretch out my broken leg before me. Its screams at me, the pain the surges through me searing hot in contrast to the ice that presses in around me. "Both of you," I say as my eyes narrow, meeting both of theirs before I turn away with a huff. I sounded like a spoilt child, and I was sure that if Lidia had of been here she would have kicked my leg under the table and told me to buck up. If Wren had of been here... Screw it. I don't give two fucks what fucking golden boy Wren would have thought about it.

"Please, sleep, stay warm," I say my voice dripping with sarcasm as I wave a lazy hand in their direction, my gaze landing on Felicity. "I wouldn't want you to miss your beauty sleep." I give her, and the rest of my traitorous team a dramatic bow of the head, "I'll watch over you all as you rest, like the chivalrous gentleman that I was raised to be." Not that I was in any condition to kick anyways ass right now. Though I was fairly certain that in may current state I would still take on Xov's scrawny ass, and probably Ines too.

Turns out I am shit at playing the watch dog because I don't remember when I closed my eyes by body jolting awake at the sound of booming voice, ”Rise and shine tributes! A deadly snowstorm is on the way and unless you want to become popsicles, the only place you should be right now is The Mines! Hurry now as we’re going to play a game…” A storm? I look up at the sky, my eyes opening fully for the first time in days. The swelling must have gone down. The sky was angry, and the winds around us whipped snow into my face. Yeah we had to move. Now.

"Belcher, get up off your ass, we gotta move." Wincing at the pain that surged through my leg as I pushed myself to my feet, I surge on my pack and begin to move towards the mine entrance. Mouse and Wren Jr. keep close to Felicity as we climb into the mines. I debate mentioning to Mouse to wait outside but by the time I glance over my shoulder he has stumbled into the Mine once again and I knew that the moment I demanded him to stay he would fight me on it- suddenly mouse is pushing passed both Felicity and me, running into the depths of the mines. "Mouse! Mouse wait. Dammit," cursing I rush after the stupid winged buffoon.

A sudden and loud crash and bang sound behind us and I pause, looking over my shoulder. "Did they just trap us in here?" I mumble at Felicity. The darkness around us made it hard to see her, but I felt the warmth of her body heat and could see the halo of her almost white hair around her head. "What the fuck- I cant see shit! Did you see where Mouse went...?" My voice drops off as I hear the familiar and almost frantic clicks of Mouses beak.

Turning I follow the sound and come to a dead halt as we come face to face with Ines and Maggie. In the dim light Mouse stares at Ines, and I knew instantly that my winged creature was waiting for his lover to appear. "Mouse has a thing for Ines's bird. Its all very charming and makes me wants to barf," I whisper to Felicity over my shoulder.

"Fuck, Hugo!"

I knew that voice too. Axyl. Shit.

"Would you be surprised if I said that none of the tributes in this tunnel currently find me, ah, endearing?"

[ damage ]
as5iZJMNri4-9

[kaitlin]

4-9

[alex 🐺]

I shouldn't have been worried about Axyl's dick, or even mine getting frostbite.

Well, I should always be worried about that here. But after the whiteout tears daggers through our clothing and I lay flat on Butch's back as we wander through the storm, my fists tangled in his fur, all I know is that everything probably fucking has frostbite on it now. Most of all my dick.

And any pride that I had left.

The refuge that we seek in the Mines (the stupid goddamn Mines again) is as shortlived as any hope that the wolfpack ever had in Two to live a quiet life. Axyl's prescient words - "This is gonna be bad, man," ring in my ears before the ground swallows us up and everything goes dark.

I swallow dust, rocks, and earth. If I could define the word ache, it would be this: a deep bruising in your bones, the quiet pain in your chest, the fragile movements that tear you apart gently. Because that's what this feels like. We fall and fall until we crash to the floor, voices ringing in the darkness. My breath tears out of me, stolen from the impact.

I hear others, can see their shapes moving in the darkness. After days of being alone, turned soft without killing, how could I convince them that we weren't a threat? How could I show them that this was their sanctuary too? That we were as lost as they were? How could I tell them that my scars and tattoos are a testament to the fact that my body and soul are burnt to a crisp, but that the harm and violence written across my knuckles doesn't mean a fight now?

Ever since I could walk, curse, and fight, life wasn't about living. It was about surviving. And for a fleeting moment, I hold life in my hand in the form of Axyl's calloused palm before he takes off in the dark. I haul myself up, axe in my right fist, my palms slick against the wood. My eyes flash at Marguerite, jaw set before I take off after Axyl.

"We gotta keep moving."

"Dude, dude! Don't go that way! It's probably block- "

My feet follow in his footsteps. We've been doing it for days now, so it's more a habit than anything else. He knows I would follow him anywhere, ever the loyal wolf.

[damage roll]

ZfCXJrcURc4-9

4-9

[Cait]

In my thirteenth year, a girl at school died of hypothermia during the worst Winter I’ve lived through.

The memories are hazy from a time of unrelenting cold and food rations. I’m sure the lack of warm blood pumping to my brain killed off a few of my brain cells, left me with some form of amnesia. But maybe that’s a good thing to have, sometimes. I remember a school assembly where a whole twenty-three seconds were dedicated to a girl who became another statistic. And I remember the encore one week later, for a boy from the kindergarten, who died in his sleep.

That’s the way it’s always been. An entire lifetime peppered with little tragedies – so many that they begin to blur into one another, become indistinguishable. Lose all the weight they should hold.

So when Maggie tells me to keep moving through the storm, and the threat of losing fingertips pierces my mind, it doesn’t quite surprise me to be able to sit with the numbness of that lost memory. A girl died four years ago, and I don’t feel a thing about it. Don’t even remember her name. All I can care about is surviving this day.

I think about that for a long time, where humanity goes. How it can be so easily lost when adversity beckons. How I’ve already become a girl I don’t recognise. I’m still thinking it – about Azure and trying to hold onto her name so she doesn’t follow that same fate – when Maggie makes the call to turn back towards the mines.

We’re thinking the same thing. Danger, there’s a big red exclamation point above the mouth of the entrance we’re forced back into. Maggie slips the knot of my rope over my wrist for me, but it doesn’t feel as secure as it did yesterday. The thought of being caved in and buried alive makes me shudder harder than the wind rippling through my clothes. I know I’m not a bad person yet. The part of me that’s still humane has the foresight to tie Lonora to a tree by the entrance – let me save something from this madness if I can’t save myself. Larsen isn’t so easily abandoned, remaining stubborn as ever as we enter the mines, marching two steps ahead of me, yet always two steps behind Maggie.

She hears the voice first, but I hear the creature chattering through the darkness long before the sounds of other tributes are upon us. I feel the blip of my heart; connect the revered lines to Viktor; follow it towards Felicity. She had stayed through the night, talking in hushed whispers that provided the soundtrack for me to find sleep. By the time morning came and Maggie was rousing me awake, trying and failing to hide her annoyance at my sleeping in, Felicity had already disappeared, taking the warmth with her.

I know they’re close by, again, and it’s the same second that I see Viktor’s fuzzy tail that a scream graces the air – Hugo, of course I can’t make my brain work fast enough to put the face to the name. There’s a slash of metal in the air, and I feel every nanosecond that the rope tightens around my wrist before I’m cut free of Maggie. Like a metaphor.

“Save yourself!”

The words unleash a war of yes and no. Yes, save myself. No, don’t leave. I’m thirteen again, struggling to answer true or false questions on a surprise pop quiz, trying desperately to ignore the empty chair two desks over.

There’s not enough time to make the decision on what the right thing to do is; I’m already free-falling through the roof and crashing into the pile of sharp rocks below.

I guess it’s like falling into the pits of Hell. That’s the only explanation I can have for Lionel’s battered and bruised face being the first thing I see when I finally manage to open my eyes.

“Just our luck,” I grumble to myself as I make my way back onto unsteady legs. But if Lionel hears the jibe, I wouldn’t be mad about it, for the record.

This section of the mines feels even more claustrophobic than the previous one. It probably doesn’t help that it’s a god damn zoo down here: Sierra’s shaking the dust out of her fur; Viktor’s chirping happily at our ambivalent reunion; and Mouse practically bowls me over when he gets the whiff of Lonora’s pelt on my clothes. And despite everything that’s happened and that’s yet to happen, I find myself carrying a small smile.

“Sorry little guy, she’s outside,” I whisper to Mouse, ducking my head slightly in what felt like a respectful way. Looking into such a majestic creature’s eyes feels too private, and yet I find it difficult to look away. His eyes glitter at me in a way I know mine never have.

Lionel’s mumbling something under his breath to Felicity, and that’s what makes me look up. I narrow my eyes suspiciously at the pair, trying to figure out how two people at completely different ends of my morality spectrum can coexist like that. I look at Maggie, watch her looking at Felicity, who’s now looking at me and I’m looking at Mouse again just to avoid Lionel’s mean glare.

We enter into an uneasy silence, hands gripping our weapons tightly, nobody willing to draw first blood. The quiet prickles at my skin; I’ve never been good at discomfort. And there’s no doubt in my mind that Lionel is about to say something stupid and make the situation even worse, so I jump into the yawning abyss of the silent moment, trying to initiate damage control like I’m some type of mediator. For the first time in my life, I miss Nekane and her ability to get everything she’s ever wanted. I could use that kind of certainty right now.

“So, which one is Hugo?” I almost ask whether he’s one of the ones we should be worried about, before remembering they’re all ones we should be worried about.

Even Felicity.

Even Maggie.

Even myself.

9wukEoHZ0S4-9

GRIFFIN

4-9

[gamemaker tallis 🧚🏽‍♂️kaitlin.]

The tiny cavern by the mines is pure luck, but it's fun masquerading it as carefully laid strategy with Lionel.

We'd stumbled out into the light snow the night before intent on finding water; from the back exit, a cut through craggy mountain face led right away from the rocks and towards a massive expanse of ice. I'd wanted fresh air after spending time with Ines, needed to clear my mind after sitting with her while sleep found her. I didn't blame Maggie for the look on her face, for the fact that she didn't trust me anywhere she couldn't see me. I might've said the same about her, somewhere she couldn't hear, but it took it's toll all the same. Giving someone else peace always has. So I'd stumbled away and when I found Lionel I determined I'd rather not spend another night without someone looking out for my back the way Maggie looked after Ines.

Looking out over the ice in the dark, it'd been impossible to tell where the misty sky began and where the ice sheet ended. In truth, my stomach had dropped at the sight. Staring into the dark, I swore I could feel it looking back, the breeze like a cold breath in my face.

"Maybe we should sleep nearby actually," was all the suggestion Lionel needed. "We can see who else heads out this way; who else wants water."

Mouse helps us scout along, and we manage to find an alcove that's already mostly obscured; the ground is damp and the place isn't as warm as it was down in the mines, but with all of us huddled in eventually the air begins to heat. A part of me considers the benefits of a fire against the cons, but eventually decide the flint should be saved.

It's easy to pretend we're tougher than I think either of us actually would be, if things came down to it. Together, we tell each other we're playing spies, doing reconnoissance on the other tributes. We pretend we're going to go after them, get the jump on 'em, trade stories about the exchanges we've had with others since we came down here. It's hard not to laugh when I think about the look on Lucky's face when I found him in that charred cabin, the actual beat of consideration. There'd been a compliment in there somewhere.

I hope he's the one who finds the knife I left under the floorboards. I'd love to scuff those pretty boots I saw him wearing.

They were way too shiny.

"Dibs on Mouse snuggles," I proclaim as soon as we finish going about setting up camp. Exhaustion wraps its hands around my shoulders the moment Mouse welcomes me in, adjusting his feather wing to make a space for me to lay against his belly. Sleep tries to claim me, and Lionel's words come back to me garbled, as if through water. "Definitely your fault that he totally likes me better."

And the dreams wash over me.

Night two, and they're as awful as they were the night before, though I struggle to remember them when I'm jolted awake in the night by my own gasping. Wren and Viktor both grumble at me angrily, but after a moment Wren makes a big yawn before stretching and falling right back to sleep. The memory flashes behind my eyes only a second, a glass tank and an air tube that failed me, drowning in a room full of people watching.

I can still see their eyes when I close my own, so I don't sleep most of the rest of the night. Using the toolkit I'd jacked from the mines, instead I fiddle with the bits of scrap metal I'd collected, Viktor watching on as he clung to my shoulder; why there'd been a bird cage I hadn't stopped to consider, but I use the parts of it to reinforce the helmet I'd picked up, twisting tiny horns out from where it'll sit against my temples.

I'm slumped over, using it as a pillow when Sick startles me out of snoring.

"I'm awake! I'm up!" I lurch off my ass only to find everything aches from my shoulders down to my heels, my joints stiff from shitty sleep. "Oh, carry me," I groan, "Gimme a piggy back ride. C'mon!"

He's moving fast though, and my words catch on the wind. Mouse looks back and forth between us a second, then gives me a look as if to say get a move on. With a grimace, I follow into the blizzard as we charge quickly towards the mines exit.

The chill follows us even once we descend the elevator and catch our breath, a shiver running down my spine as the cold swirls around our ankles still as if following us. The storm, intent on slipping inside the warmth, trails down the mine shaft, keeping the crystalline snowflakes that cling to Lionel's outer layer sharp and distinct. The cold certainly wakes up the nervous system, but still my eyes fixate on the sight of those snowflakes for just a moment longer than they need, stuck on they way they look slowly melting against Lionel's hair.

If Mouse hadn't shoulder checked me, I'm not sure where I'd have gone with that train of thought.

"Of course they're fucking trapping us down here," I have the wherewithal to shout as I'm running behind Lionel, but after that shit starts going sideways. Being herded down here like sheep, we should've seen it coming when the ground began to tremble at the same time that loud chittering sounded from nearby. Racing after Lionel, I honestly couldn't tell whether we were following the sound of Mouse ahead or if we were just running from whatever was down the tunnels behind us. Rubble falls around us like rain, soot collecting in my hair and getting in my eyes as I choke on it. "I hear him up ahead! Keep going straight!"

Sweat starts collecting under all my layers as we race down the tunnel, enough to make my thermal under layers cling in the wrong ways, making my brain start to itch. I'm gasping by the time Lionel comes to a screeching halt, fast enough that I just about barrel right into his back. I can barely hear him over the ringing in my own ears when he whispers to me over his shoulders.

"Wait, Mouse has a thing for Lonora?" I lean out from behind him as if he's something to hide behind, and there indeed is Mouse, confirming every good thought about Ines that Felicity has bothered to spend time entertaining. If Mouse liked her, then maybe Felicity wasn't being irrevocably stupid being her friend. I lift my eyes browns up at Lionel, though his gaze seems focused outwards towards where Mouse stands near Ines, casting a furtive glance down a tunnel as voices echo back towards us. "I've met you, Sick," I mutter back to Lionel. "So no, no surprises."

I grimace and roll my eyes before taking a deep breath, stepping out from behind Lionel with hands up.

"Well, you know I'm not interested in a fight," I manage quickly. "Y'all know a way out of this hell-prison?"

FELICITY
CARROW

rock damage!
L1SE83uV4B4-9

4-9

[pogue]

He palms the spiked bat within his grasp, white-knuckling the object all in the sake of his life depending on it. In his other hand is the walkie-talkie, thumb resting on the button in case the shadows swallow them whole and tear them in two once more. Something sinister writes itself into the passageways as they move forward, blind leading the blind, hobbling on rock and soil and gritting teeth through the leftover pain of his knee.

"Another dead end." He mumbles into the shadows, gaze meeting the sight of another boarded up walkway, shadows and dust glaring back at him. He taps the wall with his bat, soft at first and then an all out war, splinters of wood and rock flying into the abyss, a spike or two following in their wake. There's a bead of sweat carving a path down his forehead by the time he's done, panting into the icy air before moving to take a step towards what he thinks is an open doorway.

A piece of rock finds its way into the door first, then down and down and down, the sound of it clanging against the walls echoing through the shadows just in time for him to catch himself in the before plunging head first into the empty mine shaft.

New bead of sweat, stomach still sinking, he looks back to Hugo before backing as far away from the doorway that his pride could handle. "Okay, definitely a dead end." 

Gulp, swallow, he looks back towards the passageway that they came from, sighing before bringing the bat to his shoulder. "... you lead." He finally mutters, nodding to Hugo before pointing his bat towards the shadows once more.

Time cannibalizes itself as they move amongst the passageways, a mash of lefts and rights and circling back later. Axyl eventually resorts to dragging his bat against the walls, metal meeting metal of the brackets holding long-dead lights in place. The silence gnaws at them both, until biting his tongue can't stop him from breaking it anymore, pointing out what he deems obvious:

"I think-" He starts, palming Hugo's shoulder and stopping their movement. "I think we're only gettin' out of here once someone bites it." He says softly, instinctively tightening the grip on his bat. "Can't be one of us." 

It's less a statement, more a plead to anything higher than themselves, to life and death itself.

And sooner or later it gives into itself, footsteps hitting against the rocks and clashing against their own. Axyl points his bat like a sword and a statement, trying desperately to stop the way his grip shakes in fear. "Ah, shit."

Into the dim light steps Marguerite Harvard. Axyl grits his teeth, glancing towards Hugo before back to the girl he'd sparred with before. "Great." He mumbles underneath his breath, the silence and echo carrying it forward anyways. "A real solid district reunion I guess." He throws out to his ally, keeping his distance from the Two across from him before glaring back at her.

"So, what- gonna bash our skulls in on the rock or something?" He says, eyes darting for any sign of an escape plan.

[Damage]

H|h|QYX_|14-9

4-9

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a r g u e r i t e

Something's got a hold of me lately
No, I don't know myself anymore
Feels like the walls are all closin' in
And the devil's knockin' at my door, whoa

Another splash of rocks tumbled down and Marguerite willed her body to press tighter against the wall. The cave ins hadn’t settled, likely magnified by the weight of tributes and the echo of voices through the shafts. She clutched her hands above her head and pulled into her knees.

‘Would you be surprised if I said that none of the tributes in this tunnel currently find me, ah, endearing?

Maggie peeked up from her spot low to the ground at the sound of five’s voice. He struck her as the sort of boy who’s braincells struggled to rub together for any sustained period, which left his head empty and full of hot air. Well – at least he was probably safe from any concussion the falling rocks could cause.

“Has anyone ever found you endearing besides your momma?” Maggie offered as the wall shook behind her.

Before she could open her mouth to skewer Lionel again, she caught a glimpse of her district partner headed the direction of Axyl’s voice. Staring daggers, she dragged along the wall to follow after him, only to pause when the rocks shifted again.

‘So which one is Hugo?’ Ines. Ines! Maggie whipped her head to face the girl from eleven with the closest thing to a smile she could manage.

“The one that looks like he hasn’t washed his hair in a month even though we’ve only been here two days. District partner. Don’t trust him.” Not that Ines should have trusted anyone, let alone cramped underneath falling rock and trapped in darkness. If they survived the cave-in, Maggie might explain how her district partner had gone for her out the gate in the bloodbath. Which – it didn’t matter, she didn’t care (she cared) he could do whatever he wanted (not that, though). District partners turning on one another was a normal part of the games (after, oh, a few days).

Felicity followed the rest of them. Of course. It wasn’t as though the girl had done anything to them when she’d had the opportunity yesterday.

Maggie couldn’t explain why she didn’t like Felicity. Especially when Ines seemed so enamored by her. Maybe she had woken up that morning and decided the sound of her voice annoyed her. Or her blond hair. Or anything, really – she just didn’t like her, and that was within her right, wasn’t it?

Another set of rocks cascaded off the wall and Maggie decided to put a pin in her irrational dislike of three.

“This way.” She would lead again, even if she didn’t know the way. Half of this had to be confidence, and, well, dumb luck.

Axyl’s voice carried out through the tunnel and Maggie caught sight of the barbed wire snaking around the edge of his baseball bat.

A reunion? The hell –

‘… So, what- gonna bash our skulls in on the rock or something?’

“The game makers are doing a pretty great job of that already, or has your fat head not noticed?” Maggie spat back. She pulled back on her glaive and offered a warning with a raised brow.

Marguerite watched Axyl’s grip on his baseball bat. The way he breathed. The fact that with the right movement in the dark, with his height and weight, her small stature could give her the angle to pounce.

She cast a glance back at Felicity and grinned.

Well, maybe there was one idea she'd have to thank the girl for.

Marguerite stepped slowly toward Axyl in between the clatter of rubble. When she got close enough, she lunged, and snarled with the whites of her eyes wide and teeth bared.

“Boo.”

ELEGANT

Damage
99ee6dfphh4-94-9

[k!ah]

"I've met you, Sick, so no, no surprises." Her words had my lips pulling back into a grin. I didn't know why, but I felt like with Felicity I didnt have to hide who I was- not that I had tried to hide myself from anyone. The amount of people who were pissed off at me and my endless shenanigans grew with each passing day... But I almost felt like it was a no judgement zone with Belcher. No, that was not quite right. There was a hell of a lot of judgement, but underneath it was a sort of acceptance that I hadn't had pull from her with charming smiles and carefully placed words. Something that had never been freely given to me from the people back home.

She steps out from behind me, noting the weapons drawn as she declares fighting to be off todays agenda. I was inclined to agree, but felt myself growing increasingly annoyed by the way Mouse kept looking at Ines expectantly, with a softness that seemed to be reserved for anyone but me. Huffing I glare at the large fowl, "Mouse, get back here." The fowl looks over his shoulder at me, glaring right back. "Suit yourself, but if one of them starts plucking you to prepare you for their roast dinner thats on you, not me." And from the way Maggie was glaring at us, wait, no Felicity? I wouldn't put it passed her.

I glance at Felicity, "why does Two look like her want to prepare you for a roast dinner?" But then Maggie's eyes are cutting towards me and I my lips pull back into a smirk as I remember just how easy it was to rile her up back in the training centre. “Has anyone ever found you endearing besides your momma?”

I choke on a snort, leaning into Mouse as he finally takes his spot flanking my right. My legs was screaming, sending sudden and intense waves of pain through my body so hard that it felt like it was almost rattling my brain. "My momma?" I say, drawing out the word as I snickered. My 'momma' found grass to be more endearing than me, but I kept that to myself, slipping my hands into my pockets. "Is that the best you got Two? Come on, I expected more from you," I say as I give her a quick look from head to toe. "Such a disappointment."

My gaze sweeps back to Ines and she is looking between Belcher and I like she couldn't quite figure out the punch line to the joke. My grin grows and I raise my brows at the girl, "you look a little confused there Ines-"

Suddenly Axyl is there, grasping his bat like he is a star player on a baseball field teeing up to take the swing of his life. Behind Axyl is a golden haired boy who I had seen with Axyl that day back in the forrest. My eyes lock with his for a moment before Maggie is in Axyls face, snarling, with teeth bared like some sort of wild animal and I watch, half expecting her mouth to start dripping with silva. "What the fuck they feeding them back in two," I mumble to Felicity, trying to hold back laughter that had become to climb my throat. Maybe had Maggies teeth not looked as harmless as grandma's flapping gums it might have been intimidation. The girl had no fangs, she looked like a fool, not a predator.

My gaze slides to Axyl, dancing with amusement, but keep my voice almost bored, "watch out, Axyl, this one looks like she might start drooling at your feet in a moment."

[ damage ]
4M4IDHN0ko4-9

[kaitlin]

4-9

[alex 🐺]

We take off into the darkness like two wolves caught on the scent of an easy mark. Or so we think.

It isn't long before Axyl's bat flings out into an open mineshaft, my hand reaching to pull him back by the flannel. He doesn't need it, pulling himself back quickly, his frustration rolling off of him in waves. We twist and turn in the dark, two blind idiots spinning around as he tells me to lead. Me leading? That's a bad idea, right?

I grunt in response because haven't we learned anything from the past three days? I sure as shit shouldn't be leading anything, let alone Axyl to his death. A muttered curse, heat building under my collar and my fingers ache to reach out to Axyl's wrist once more, just to feel his pulse. Just to know that we're in it together. That we're still in this together. 

Like the blind idiots we are, we somehow make it back to the group and Marguerite is nearly done bashing my good looks and credibility - "The one that looks like he hasn’t washed his hair in a month even though we’ve only been here two days. District partner. Don’t trust him.” I mean, she ain't wrong. But she isn't right either. My name tastes like a tragedy, a war cry, a call to arms in her mouth and I bite back a bark.

I spit at her feet as she gets in Axyl's face, stepping forward to put my body between hers and his. I pluck words from deep within me, pulling gristle and bone from each sharp consonant and every vowel wrapped tightly by muscle. I polish them, infuse them with my soul, and watch as they burst to life. "If you fuckin' touch him, I swear to god I'll - "

I nearly howl at her again, the awhoo stuck in my craw, but the anger rises like bile instead.

The threat dies on my lips, my teeth and tongue writing checks that my hands and heart know that I can't cash. Another boy - one from before who's face flashes like a dream - saves me from myself as he challenges Harvard.

"Watch out, Axyl, this one looks like she might start drooling at your feet in a moment."

I spin around him, eyes flashing between him and the other two girls, a war dance in my chest, even as the walls close all around us.

It's clear we've all got history. Unfinished business and grudges that threaten us more than any danger of falling rocks and stones.

[damage roll]

NR|g7Hoy|L4-9

4-9

[Cait]

a smol filler to keep things moving <3

Hxxg9r_eA34-9

GRIFFIN

4-9

[gamemaker tallis 🧚🏽‍♂️kaitlin.]

filler to grab le dice / an attempt to let liam post if he’s around ! i’ll be back with a post in an hour oe two

the floor falling in? now what in the hell!!! felicity grapples with gratitude she doesn't have to answer lionels question and desperation... is very wild eyed and starts looking a little frantic when the voices turn out to be axyl and hugo.

"oh, fuck, not them—" felicity grimaces and steps around lionel again when they show up, pulls her helmet further down her head and hides behind horns and himbo. axyl makes her stomach tighen and hugo makes her scared. she's about to whisper about accidentally opening a door in his face during the bloodbath when lionel—the traitor!—saunters towards them with all the confidence of a lion.

"lionel," a hiss, government issued name and all. "slow up."

FELICITY
CARROW

rock damage!
8uEnsNCl4e4-9

4-9

[pogue]

- Jumps backwards when Maggie lunges at him, straight into Hugo
- Slams bat into mine wall as a warning, causing the lights (?) to flicker softly (Maybe)
- Keeps bat pointed towards Maggie as Lionel shows up
- "Knife on him-" He mumbles to Hugo
- Finally looks around at everyone who has joined the ~festivities~ and knows a fight will only fuck 'em all over
- "Alright, so- what now? We all kill one another down here?"

- "Or we all get outta here, and kill each other-" Bat to the sky, baby! "- some other time, right up there."

[Damage]

_Z0xAZZf0q4-9

4-9

[marguerite harvard d2a (zori)]

m a r g u e r i t e

Something's got a hold of me lately
No, I don't know myself anymore
Feels like the walls are all closin' in
And the devil's knockin' at my door, whoa

Filler! Thought I could post before work.

Maggie grins at having caused Axyl to have jumped back.

Rolls her eyes but knows it's not smart to start something outnumbered.

"Which way's the exit then?" (rumbling and more cave in).

ELEGANT

Damage
QHJ5NmEzi54-94-9

[k!ah]

will fill tonight x

[ damage ]
KH_eKUe2p_4-9

[kaitlin]

[
4-9